


i still get jealous

by anothermikaelson



Series: of wristrockets and skateboards [11]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Jealousy, Love, f l u f f f f f f, fluff and some angst but not really bc it hurts my soul to write them in pain, this is like part two to the previous chapter, this is so fluffy i can't-
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27635737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothermikaelson/pseuds/anothermikaelson
Summary: there's a new girl in school, and lucas is her official tour guide.cue the party trying to keep max's criminal record clean. post season 3.--aka jealousy pt. 2aka i could totally see this happening and i needed a part two sorated teen for languagep.s. dedicated to Stranger_Lumax for leaving positive feedback on almost every one of my chapters and staying up to date with my stories!! love you!!
Relationships: Eleven/Mike Wheeler (background), Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair
Series: of wristrockets and skateboards [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011171
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	i still get jealous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stranger_Lumax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stranger_Lumax/gifts).



> title from nick jonas's "jealous"   
> (ik wow i didn't have to google that at all)

It's a Monday. 

Max doesn't need to be told twice. 

Seriously, the last time Max was told it was Monday twice, Dustin ended up with a black eye. 

But the best part of Mondays? Max gets to wake up in the Sinclairs' house. 

After a few times she "accidentally" fell asleep watching a movie at the Sinclairs' on Sunday nights, it's become normal for Mrs. Sinclair to walk down to make breakfast at 7am, only to find Max asleep on the couch with Lucas, or sometimes even Lucas cooking breakfast to wake up Max. 

And today is no different. 

Lucas wakes up first, as usual, at 7:30 on the dot, like he does every morning. Even on weekends. Max thinks he's insane. "Morning, Mom." He looks over at his mother cooking breakfast. She greets him back. "Hey, princess, you up?" Lucas looks back down at his girlfriend, who's fallen asleep with her arms wrapped tightly around his torso. "Max? Maxi? Max. Maaaaaxxxxx." He pokes her cheek, but she still doesn't wake up. "Maxine. Wake up." 

At her full name, Max stirs. "Hmm? No." She tightens her grip around him. "Don't call me Maxine," she mumbles, half asleep. 

"Okay, I won't, but can you  _ please let go _ ? I can't breathe. And I have to brush my teeth and change. And you sweat in your sleep, so you stink." 

Max's eyes snap open, and she rotates on her side so that they both fall on the floor, Max on top of Lucas. "Excuse me?" 

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! You don't stink, I stink. Please get off of me, though. I literally can't breathe." Max rolls her eyes, still pissed off. "Please, princess?" 

Max grunts and gets off, dusting her hands off dramatically. "That nickname is supposed to be occasional, Stalker." 

Lucas stands up. "So was 'Maxi', and yet here we are." 

"God, what time is it?" Max changes the subject, and yawns, stretching her hands above her head. Her shirt lifts up a little, exposing her belly button, and Lucas seizes the opportunity to tickle her. "Lucas...stop....I can't breathe!...idiot...Lucas!" She manages to get out, collapsing in giggles. He doesn't stop, so Max grabs his arm and twists it to the side. Lucas lets go immediately, while Max catches her breath. "Okay, I'm up. Jeez. I'm going to shower and change. How much time do we have, Ada?" Max still finds it weird to call Mrs. Sinclair by her first name, even if she's been doing so for almost three months. 

"Forty-two minutes, Max. You too, Lucas," she calls. 

Max and Lucas look at each other for a split second, and race upstairs to see who can get to the bathroom first, even though there are three in the house. One is Erica's, however, and the other is in Lucas's parents' bedroom, so they have to share one. Lucas is in the lead as he goes up the stairs, but since Max can just grab her duffel bag and run, she ends up winning. "Max, you better be done in ten minutes!" Lucas calls. "Last time you took twenty!" 

Smirking, Max hops into the shower and turns on the hot water. The first few times she showered in the Sinclairs' house, she felt bad for using up their hot water, but they assured her it was fine multiple times, so now she's definitely used to it. She quickly rinses through her hair, not bothering to shampoo and condition it (Lucas keeps extra shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the bathroom, since he likes Max's shampoo scent). Within minutes, she's dried and dressed. Max quickly brushes her teeth and washes her face, drying her hair until it's damp. Her hair takes a while to blow dry, and she doesn't like the heat, so she just lets it air dry. Besides, it's warm enough in the Sinclairs' residence. They turned up the heat in their house on purpose, after finding out Max hates winter. 

They can't blame her, though. She's from California. 

Max steps outside the bathroom, with two minutes to spare. "Done, Stalker. You can head in now." She dramatically flips her hair and heads back into his room. "I'm going to have to change out my clothes again. Remind me after school." 

"'Kay." Lucas starts brushing his teeth, and Max gets back in the bathroom to comb her hair out. "Hey!" 

"Move over." Sighing, Lucas moves over to give Max space. "Thanks, baby." 

"I didn't exactly have a choice, but whatever." Max opens the cabinet under the sink, and pulls out some lotion, applying it to her face. "When did that get there?" 

Max rubs the white cream around her face. "Literally four months ago." When she sees Lucas's gape, she smirks. "I thought I told you about it. Or maybe your mom." 

"Yeah, you didn't tell my mom." He puts the toothbrush back in its cup, and rinses his mouth. "'Kay, you done?" 

"Yep," Max says, popping the 'p'. "Let's go. I'm hungry, and your mom is literally the best cook in the world." She skips down the stairs to her seat at the Sinclairs' dining room, next to Lucas's, across from Erica's, with Mrs. Sinclair sitting across from Lucas, and Mr. Sinclair at the head of the table. The two of them make it just in time for Mrs. Sinclair to slide a plate of eggs and bacon to Lucas, and eggs and sausages to Max. "Wow, this looks really good, Ada." Max smiles. 

"Thanks, Max. So do you guys want milk or orange juice? Or do you want coffee?" 

Lucas and Max look at each other. Coffee is barely an option for them, since neither of them really like it. "Orange juice," Lucas says, just as Max says, "coffee." 

Mrs. Sinclair hands them a cup of their drink. "Didn't know you liked coffee, Max." 

Max takes a sip, and grimaces. "I drink it occasionally. And it's pretty cold out, too. Oh, can I have two sugars and milk, please?" Mrs. Sinclair hands her two sugars, and puts their carton of milk on the table. "Thanks." Max dumps the sugars into the coffee, and pours a little bit of milk, too. She takes another sip. "That's a lot better." Smiling, Max takes the milk back into the refrigerator, since no one else actually drinks the milk in the morning, only Lucas, sometimes. 

Lucas looks outside. "It's not even cold, MadMax. It's like, fifty degrees." Mrs. Sinclair sits down across from them.

"Says you, Mr. I've-been-living-in-Indiana-for-the-last-fourteen-years-so-I-don't-know-what-the-cold-is." 

"Is California that hot?" 

Max stabs her eggs with a fork. "It's not  _ that _ hot. In LA it's pretty much a hundred degrees every day and night, except in the winter. In the winter it's like, sixty-five degrees at the least." 

"Holy shit, that's hot. How do you survive?" 

"Language, Lucas," Mr. Sinclair calls, walking into the kitchen. 

"Sorry." 

"It's not that bad, you just have to drink a lot of water. And put on a lot of sunscreen." Max finishes her plate of food. "That's why the ocean is so great. The water is nice and cold there." 

"That's cool." Max smirks over in Lucas's direction, just as Mrs. Sinclair stands up. "Okay, you two. Ready to go?" 

Max stands up, finishing her coffee. "Yeah." Just then, Erica walks in, with a pile of horribly wrapped gifts. "Hey, Erica." 

Erica looks over. "Morning, Max. Morning, Dad and Mom. Morning, nerd." She walks over to the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, tossing the gifts underneath. 

Mrs. Sinclair smiles. "Where'd you get the gifts, Erica?" 

Sitting down in her seat, Erica smiles widely. "Robin helped me. She paid a little too, so you can thank her later." Her eyes are literally radiating admiration to her "older sister". 

Lucas stands up. "Alright, it's time. We're going to be late." Mrs. Sinclair nods, letting Lucas and Max run up to get their backpacks. Within a few seconds, they're back down, their backpacks (and Max's skateboard) in the arms. Max also has one of Lucas's hoodies on, and Erica makes kissing faces, making Lucas roll his eyes. "Let's go!" 

Mrs. Sinclair gets in the car, and Lucas lets Max get in the front seat, while he climbs in the back. "Oh, Lucas, don't you have to give the new student a tour today?" 

Lucas suddenly remembers. "Oh, yeah. Shit. I should've put on something nicer." He looks down at his Karate Kid t-shirt (he wears it a lot, hoping Max will notice it. She always pretends not to) and black jeans. 

Max keeps her gaze out the window. "You look cute in that, baby. Chill out." 

Mrs. Sinclair raises an eyebrow at the nickname. Max rarely uses it, and when she has, she's never used it in front of people. It's more of a private thing between her and Lucas. 

"Thanks, princess." Lucas watches as his mother's eyebrows go up even higher. Again, a nickname he's never actually used in front of his parents. Or anyone, really. 

They continue talking all the way to the school, where Lucas and Max get out. "Thanks for the ride, Ada." Max gets her skateboard and backpack, throwing it over her shoulder. 

"No problem, sweetie. I'll pick you guys up at 3. Have a good day!" She drives off, and Lucas and Max head into school, just barely brushing shoulders. 

The two of them, since the first day of school, haven't exactly shown much PDA, and don't plan to. Everyone kind of gets the idea that they're together, though. Justin Sanders, who was friendzoned so bad by Max, had spread the word like wildfire throughout the school. 

Lucas drops off his things at his locker, and quickly stops by Max's locker before the bell rings. "I'm probably not going to be at lunch with you, so here. Mom made it this morning." He hands her a paper bag. "I'll see you after school, or maybe sixth or seventh period, okay?" 

Max takes the bag and puts it in her locker. "Yeah. See you later, Stalker." She smiles and heads off to class, and Lucas slips a note into her locker, something he does more than Mike does with Eleven. 

He then walks to the principal's office, and sees a girl sitting in the chair. She must be around 5'3, Max's height, and has light brown hair and hazel eyes. "Hi, I'm Lucas Sinclair. You must be the new student." Lucas holds his hand out. 

The girl shakes it. "I'm Amanda Locke. Everyone calls me Mandy, though." She smiles. 

Principal Jenkins walks in. "Ah, I see you two have met. Mr. Sinclair, your job today is to give her a tour of the school, and make her feel welcome. You can show her around, give her the little tips to stay alive here, and give her some history facts. If you want, you can take her to some of your classes as well." Lucas smiles. He can introduce Mandy to Max. Sure, Max might not exactly be friendly to her, but they can maybe talk and be friends. 

"Okay, Principal Jenkins. Does she have a schedule yet?" 

"Not yet. We'll give it to her tomorrow, after she gets the overall feel of the school. We wouldn't want her feeling lonely in class, anyway." Mandy smiles gratefully. 

"Thank you," she says. 

"I see you guys are ready to go." The bell rings overhead. "You can begin the tour, Mr. Sinclair." 

Lucas nods, and gestures Mandy out the door. "So, this is the main hallway. All lockers are here, or down that hall. They're fairly easy to open, as long as this doesn't happen." He points to a dented locker. "...Yeah. It's pretty simple to follow around, even if it does get crowded. Over in that corner is where the jocks and cheerleaders hang out the most, so I'd steer clear of them. Here's my locker." He opens it, revealing his locker, which now has a few more pictures of Max, even if most of them are group pictures of the party. "It's about this big. They're not too big to fit a body, but big enough to put backpacks and books, you know?" Mandy laughs. 

"Are those your friends?" 

"Yeah, that's Mike, Dustin, Will, Jane--we call her El, though--and Max." His fingers linger longer on Max than they should have. "They're my best friends in the whole world. We've been through a lot." 

"Really?" 

Shit. He went too far. "Uh, yeah, on the 4th of July there was a fire at the mall. We were all there. Max's brother died in it, and so did El's dad." 

"Oh, wow. That's a lot." Mandy tries to change the subject. "So, who are the boring teachers I should look out for?" 

"Stone, definitely. She's my science teacher, and she's boring as hell. She's the worst." 

Mandy laughs again. "Sounds like my old math teacher." They continue walking down the hall, talking about teachers as the bell rings again. 

"Oh, shit. Here comes hallway swarm. Stay with me." Lucas grabs Mandy's wrist and leads her down the hall to a quieter section. Before he leads her out, though, he searches for a particular redhead in the crowd. He does find her, but she barely looks up before heading to second period, history. 

Shit. He was supposed to take notes for her. Oh well. Lucas takes Mandy to the gym. "So this is the gym. That's the girls' locker room, and the guys'. Honestly, there's barely anything to do in gym. It's pretty boring, other than the occasional mile run or testing. Otherwise, you can just chill and you're guaranteed an A." 

"Cool. I hate PE anyway." Mandy looks around the gym. 

Lucas spots his friends. "Oh, and those are my friends Will and Dustin." He points them out to Mandy. 

"They seem nice." 

"They are." Lucas smiles. "Anyway, so that's PE. I'll take you to the track." He guides her outside to the track outside. "It's pretty standard. And those are the bleachers. Never go under them, though. It's where the druggies hang out." 

"How would you know?" Mandy teases. 

Lucas rolls his eyes. "Mike has a sister named Nancy, and Will has his brother Jonathan. Nancy and Jonathan are dating, and they graduated two years ago. They warned us. So did Steve, who's Nancy's ex. He's kind of a mom to us. He said, and I quote, 'if any of you dipshits hang out there, I'm going to kick your asses into next week,', and since Steve is pretty good at fighting, we obeyed." He looks at Mandy. "It's not like we were going down there, anyway. My friends and I are kind of the nerds of the school. There are a lot of social rankings in high school." 

Mandy nods. "Same in Montana. Don't worry, it's not a different planet." 

Lucas laughs. "Yeah. Max came from California, so she's always complaining about the cold. Is it the same in Montana?" 

"No, not really. We're pretty far north, so it's cold, all right. Just not as cold, but I think I can handle it." 

They walk in silence for a while, making small talk, before the bell rings for third period. "Oh, third period. Max and El have PE now. Maybe I can introduce you to them. They're literally the only two girls in our group." Mandy nods, and within minutes, the two girls are walking out, talking. Max isn't in the good mood she was in this morning, however, and seems to be ranting (or venting) to El, who tries to nod along. "Hey, MadMax! El!" Lucas calls out. 

Max and El look up. El tries to smile, but kind of grimaces instead. Max, on the other hand, gives him the finger, and drags El away. 

Mandy blinks. "Well, that went well. Is she always like that? Or is it shark week?" 

"Honestly, it's shark week most of the time. She has a temper. She's nice once you get to know her, though." Lucas leads Mandy out of the gym, heading back inside. All the while, he's wondering why his girlfriend is suddenly so angry at him. She was fine this morning. 

**

Max is pretty much raging. Why the hell would Lucas being holding the new girl's wrist? And why the hell would New Girl be smiling at him?

El looks up. "Is that New Girl?" 

"Yeah," Max says. 

"Why do you hate her?" 

"She was hitting on Lucas, that's why." 

El ties her hair up. "She was hurting him?" 

"No, El. 'Hitting on' means she was trying to flirt with him." 

"Oh. What did she do?" 

Max balls her hands into a fist. "She was smiling at him and he was holding her wrist." 

El's eyes narrow. "Mouthbreather." 

"Exactly. Thank you, El. And don't hurt her or anything, okay? I'd rather do it myself." 

Widening her eyes, El looks at Max. "Max, don't hurt anyone." 

"I'll try." 

"GATHER ROUND, EVERYONE! WE'RE DOING VOLLEYBALL TODAY!" Max and El jump at the teacher's voice, and huddle around. 

Thirty minutes later, Max and El are sweating profusely and panting. "Why is volleyball so hard?" El asks. 

"What do you mean, hard? You aimed that ball at Jenny White's head!" Max asks, rubbing the red marks on her forearms from the volleyball. 

El smiles. "She tried to hit me, so I gave her the medicine." Max laughs. 

"Okay. We can go now, right?" El nods, and they head back to change back into their regular clothes. 

"I'll see you at lunch, Max!" El skips off to find Mike. Max sighs, picking up her books and walking to her locker, opening it for the first time since before school, and sees a note fall out. 

_see you later, princess._

Max rolls her eyes and crams the note into the back of her backpack, picking up her lunch that Ada made for her. She slams her locker shut, and heads into the cafeteria, pounding her books down on the table the party claimed. She sits down next to Will, who flinches at the noise. "Sorry. I'm just not in the mood today." 

Will smiles. "What did he do this time?" No one is at the table yet, so there's no added choruses of "yeah, what happened?" 

"He's giving the new girl a tour and he held her fucking wrist. She literally smiled at him, too. I'm about to knock the living shit out of that girl."

"Oh, yeah. I saw her with Lucas earlier, during gym. She seems nice." 

"No, Will, she's not nice! She's getting all attached to my boyfriend, and that's not okay." 

"Maybe she's getting attached because she doesn't know anyone, Max." Will takes a bite of his leftover pasta. 

Max groans. "I didn't know anyone when I moved here, either. Not until you guys stalked me and got me all involved in the crazy shit that happens here. No offense." 

Will sighs. "Well, I think you're just jealous." 

"What? I'm not jealous!" 

"Yeah, you are. Right, Mike?" Will looks up at Mike and Eleven, who are walking over. 

"What?'' Mike asks. 

"New Girl's hitting on Lucas," El says, proud of her new vocabulary. 

Mike sits down. "What?" 

"Do you want me to spell it out for you, Mike? New Girl's hitting on my boyfriend!" 

"What did she do?" 

"She was smiling at Lucas the whole time and he was holding her wrist after first period! Then they were standing a little too close during gym, and they waved over at me and El all innocent!" 

"So what did you do?" Mike asks, bored. 

"What else? I gave them the finger." 

Mike groans. "Really?" 

"Yes. I saw." El takes a bite of her Eggo. 

Dustin comes over. "Hey, guys. What are you talking about?" 

Mike looks up. "We're trying to figure out how to restrain Max from slapping the new girl." 

"New girl? Oh, I think her name's Mandy. I heard the teachers talking." 

"Oh. Well, Mandy's a bitch and I'm going to slap the living shit out of her." 

"Max's convinced the Mandy's hitting on Lucas," Will says to Dustin, who nods. 

"Max, chill out. We don't want you walking around with a parole officer. Especially not with the stuff we talk about." Dustin opens his lunch. 

"I'm not going to chill out. There's a new girl trying to get with my boyfriend!" Max almost yells, her cheeks flaming. 

There's silence. Then Mike raises an eyebrow. "Something tells me you're jealous, Red." 

Max reaches over the table to flick Mike in the forehead, with El trying not to laugh. "I'm not jealous. And call me Red one more time." 

Dustin sighs. "You are jealous, Max. You're scared that Lucas will choose the new girl over you, right?"

Max's mouth opens and closes. "I-" She sighs. "Maybe." 

"Well, figure it out yourself. Lucas did, remember? With the thing with Justin or whatever his name was." 

Max nods. "Alright, jeez. Can we not talk about my love life now?" 

Will jumps in to save the day. "I heard they're getting a new game for the arcade. It's coming in in January." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah." 

**

Max heads to her locker before class, to put her lunch container back in her locker. She decides not to get her textbooks for sixth and seventh period, since she has time anyway. 

Closing her locker, she walks to her yearbook class, and signs in quickly before taking her camera to take pictures. After cleaning it quickly, she heads out with her yearbook pass, and walks around the school to snap photos of people in class. It's mostly for the holidays section of the yearbook, with the break coming next week. Decorations are up everywhere, with paper snowflakes lining the hallways. Max takes a candid picture of the lockers, with a student opening her locker, late for class. 

Max decides next to go see what the new girl is up to, and heads over to the gym, hoping to get some outdoor pictures. She steps outside, putting the camera strap over her head so she doesn't have to hold it, and crosses her arms tightly around her torso, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. It's barely Christmas and it's already dropping, even in the afternoon. She remembers that she's wearing Lucas's hoodies from some stupid D&D conference or whatever last year, and contemplates taking it off, but realizes she's only wearing a t-shirt underneath. Sighing, she walks to the gym, where the freshmen are starting to play volleyball. 

She takes a few shots of some mid-air spikes before seeing _him_. 

Lucas is walking with Mandy, and he's in his PE clothes, but not her. She's just talking to him, smiling. And so is Lucas. 

Before he can see her, Max darts to hide behind some mats, eavesdropping on a conversation between them.

"Hey, do you guys ice skate here?" Mandy asks. 

Lucas blinks. "Yeah, on the frozen lake. Why?" 

"I was just asking. We never went ice skating in Montana. It was pretty boring, and I'd love to try it out sometime." 

"My friends and I are going ice skating on Saturday at the lake, if you want to come along." 

Mandy brightens. "I'll think about it. But you're going to have to hold my hand or something, since I can't even balance on roller skates." 

Lucas laughs. "Sure." At that, Max is fuming. She storms out the door, not even batting an eye in anyone's direction. Lucas sees a flash of red hair. There's only one person with that hair color specifically. 

_Oh shit._ He know she overheard the conversation. _Shit shit shit shit shit_

Mandy notices. "Lucas? Earth to Lucas?" 

"Sorry, I just thought I saw someone." He shakes his head. "Never mind." 

Max storms back into the yearbook class to turn in some of the pictures she took, with five minutes to spare before class ends, and she's still in a foul mood. She sits down in her seat, slumping forward. 

She watches the clock as the hands slowly move to 1:15 exactly. She jumps up once the bell rings and heads to her locker, opening it and taking out her math book. Then she remembers that Lucas might be taking Mandy to his classes, too. 

Max walks into math, and sees that Lucas and Mandy are sitting across the aisle from each other. She almost forgets that they have assigned seats, and groans inwardly as she drops in the seat next to Lucas, not even acknowledging his presence. 

Their teacher starts the lesson in triangles, and Max begins taking notes, even though she's learned most of it already. Lucas passes her a note discreetly, and Max ignores him. He passes her another one, and she ignores him again. After a third one, Max gives in and reads them. 

_are you mad, princess? please don't be mad._

_oh shit you're mad. what did i do?_

_you're not dumping me again are you? maxxxx??_

Max scribbles a note to him. _i'm not dumping you. i'm giving you an ultimatum. now shut up and pay attention, lucas._

Ouch. Lucas reads it and knows he's done something wrong when he's not referred to as "Stalker". 

_shit, what did i do, maxi?_

_don't act like you don't know._

_i don't know what i did! wait...is this about mandy?_

Max takes her time with the next note. _shut up and pay attention._

Lucas sends a note back, but Max ignores him and continues taking notes. Silently berating himself, Lucas turns back to his work. Mandy mouths to him, _What's up?_ and Lucas shakes his head, mouthing back, _She's still mad._

Mandy sighs. _If she asks, just say I'm sorry too,_ she mouths back. Lucas can't read her lips, so she leans in and whispers in his ear. Unfortunately, Max sees, and leaves a note on Lucas's notebook. 

Lucas reads it just as the bell rings. _you're good at pissing me off, you know that? you're actually lucky el and will convinced me not to dump you, even if you are a piece of shit._ He visibly flinches. 

"What's wrong?" Mandy asks. Lucas hands her the note. "Oh shit. She's mad." 

"Yeah, I'm going to catch her on the way to class. Do you know where history is?" 

"Yeah, I do. And get her back." Lucas nods, running out to catch Max before history. She's about to slam her locker shut when Lucas holds it open, not letting her close it. 

Max glares at him. "What do you want?" 

Lucas sighs. "I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what I'm sorry for, but I'm sorry. What did I do this time?" 

"You held Mandy's wrist, and you agreed to _hold her hand_. I swear I'm about to snap that wrist in half. Or at least slap the shit out of her." 

"You're mad about that? I held her wrist to lead her away from the crowd! And I offered to hold her hand, yeah, but maybe her wrist! You know I always hold _your_ hand when we go ice skating, MadMax." 

"Yeah, whatever. And what about the whispering in class, huh?" Lucas can swear her eyes are glowing red. 

"She wanted me to tell you she's sorry too! She didn't want to make our relationship all rocky. Mandy didn't mean it." 

"Uh huh." Max crosses her arms. "And how do you know what she's saying isn't a lie?" 

"She doesn't even like guys!" Lucas bursts out. 

Max is silent. "Oh." Then: "She's like Robin." 

"Exactly!" Lucas puts his hands on Max's shoulders. "I don't know why you're getting all jealous over this, Maxi." 

"Jealous? I'm not jealous!" 

"Sure you aren't. I was too, remember?" 

Max sighs. "Yeah. Okay, I was jealous. I just didn't want to lose you, too. I've already lost my dad and Billy and my mom, kind of. She and I don't talk a lot anymore. You're the only one I have left." 

Lucas pulls Max into a hug. "Aww, that's cute. So am I forgiven now?" 

"Fine, but I'm not kissing you," Max mumbles into his shoulder. She lets go. "Okay, that's a long enough hug. Go get your book. I'm going to class." She spins around, her hair flipping in his face, and heads to class, in a considerably better mood. Sliding into her usual seat, she props her feet up on Lucas's seat, waiting for him to come in. Mandy walks in almost immediately, talking to some other girl. _Well, that's nice. She'll actually leave us alone now._ Max thinks. 

Lucas walks in not long later, and drops into the seat next to his girlfriend, with Max putting her head on his shoulder. "You're taking notes for me, right, Stalker?" 

"Yeah. If I can stay awake." He yawns. "Stone is boring." 

"No kidding." 

Just then, Stone walks in. "Alright, class, let's begin," she drones. 

Lucas and Max groan silently.

* * *

Lucas heads outside the classroom. "Meet me at my locker, Maxi? I'm going to take Mandy back to Jenkins, and finish up." 

"Okay." She heads to her locker, fishing out her backpack and jamming a shitload of books in it, and organizing the pictures on her locker. 

El walks to her. "Hi, Max." 

"Hey, El! Lucas and I worked it out!" 

"So you're not going to slap the shit out of the new girl?" El asks. 

Mike, who is walking with El, drops his M&Ms. "El! Where'd you learn that from?" 

"Uh, you, and Lucas, and Max, and Dustin, and Hopper, and TV." 

"No, I'm not going to slap her. She's fine, I guess. So what are we doing after school?" Max asks. 

El shrugs. "Dustin wants to go to the arcade, but we went yesterday already. Will doesn't really care, and Mike wants to spend quality time with me, whatever that means." 

"Okay, then. We'll all go our separate ways. But we're stopping by your basement for homework, right Mike?" 

"Yeah." 

"'Kay, Lucas and I will meet you there. We'll have to leave early, though. We have to go Christmas shopping." Max slams her locker shut. 

"Okay, bye!" El waves, walking with Mike to his bike. 

Max heads to Lucas's locker just as he gets there. "We're going shopping later, right?" 

"Yeah. I have to get Mom and Erica something. How about you?" 

"Shopping for my mom." 

"Okay." Lucas closes his locker. "Let's go, Mom's here." 

"Wait, hold up. Did you get something for me yet? 'Cause I got you something already, like, a month ago." 

"Yeah, of course I did, princess. You're going to love it. It took me forever to get." 

"Really?" Lucas nods. "Have I told you lately that I love you?" 

"Nope." 

"Well, I just did." 

"Wow. Love you too, MadMax." 

**Author's Note:**

> i know it's like a month early, but i already have a christmas fic in mind?? and i have to write it?? so bear with me please lol
> 
> xoxo


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